16:1 vs. 24:1 steering
Why is the grease so expensive?
well i wanted a nice synthetic waterproof lithium grease, i'd used some good red stuff in a VW steering gear years before and it seemed similar in operation to the Mopar one
but i didn't want £500 pail of the stuff, and no longer had access to "borrow" some from work, so had to go with cartridges
mid sized grease gun style 12 inch cartridges
the latter made more sense as i only ever rebuild a box if i need to, and i didn't plan this to be more than once or twice in my life....
have just looked up what i think i used and have found it to be about $22 now
6 years ago when i last had to get some it was £35 a tube + postage i.e about $46-$50 USD and i used a tube and a half, one presumes some competition in the market has resulted in a price reduction. but at the time i was not happy at all becuse the cost of the grease cancelled out any benfit of rebuilding, it sticks in my mind as the stumbling block in my plan. once stung twice shy....as they say
parts cost, time, and the filthy process of cleaning out all the old gunk i could stomach but the straw that broke the camels back was Payday cancelled becasue the gerase was just rediculously expensive
i don't spend my life rebuilding steering boxes althought i did mine 16:1 and converted to RHD, and rebuilt another as LHD for a club members, used my spare NOS RHD 20:1 Ballnut and screw and swapped it to LHD. the aim to offset the costs of my RHD box rebuild but basically all the work to do his box, barely paid for the grease in mine....
i can report with some relief that prices have come down.
but you'd still be hard pushed to make any profit on a single rebuild when a new one is $400-500
details and the odd sarcastic comment :) here
Manual steering box rebuild - Mopar Muscle Association UK
i can't compete with this
1967-76 Mopar A Body, 62 Lancer 16:1 Manual Steering Box (New Production) | eBay
Dave